Back in the saddle... Sort of.

[selias]

It's been 11 years since I last 'cached in South Florida. Now I have two kids (7 and "almost 10") and live in Ft. Collins, Colorado. I'd forgotten all about caching until planning a trip to South Dakota that we will be taking in a couple weeks.

 

A lot has changed in 11 years, besides having kids and moving west! Not the least of which is that I don't have to have a GPS anymore now that I have an iPhone.

 

So it's a holiday weekend and I was excited about getting out to find a few local caches with the kiddos and, well, I was a disappointing 0 for 5 which left the kids wondering, "Is the old man nuts running around out here waving his iPhone around?"

 

Cache 1 was near a Walmart parking lot and, despite it having been found as recently as this morning, we looked around for a good 20 minutes and found nothing.

 

Cache 2, 3, and 4 were all in or around areas with a lot of tall grass. In Colorado at this time of year, you just don't go wandering into tall grass without boots and jeans.

 

Cache 5 was possibly attached to a guard rail along a very busy street and not very kid-friendly.

 

It also probably didn't help that 4 out of the 5 were micro caches. I guess I need to do a better job prepping and possible "pre-find" a couple of caches before our next outing so I can "guide" the kids in the right direction.

 

I'm not giving up!

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).

 

Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.

 

I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.

[jholly]

 

Cache 1 was near a Walmart parking lot and, despite it having been found as recently as this morning, we looked around for a good 20 minutes and found nothing.

 

 

Did you lift any skirts?

[+Bear and Ragged]

It's been 11 years since I last 'cached in South Florida.

 

Cache 1 was near a Walmart parking lot and, despite it having been found as recently as this morning, we looked around for a good 20 minutes and found nothing.

 

I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.

 

Yep. I think 11 years is well before 'those type' of hides started!

[+Lil Devil]

Did you lift any skirts?

With children around?

 

 

 

[selias]

Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).

 

Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.

 

I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.

 

There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.

 

I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.

[+Panther&Pine]

Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).

 

Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.

 

I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.

 

There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.

 

I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.

There are some awesom caches in that area of Colorado. I can send you some ideas later today if you want.

[selias]

Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).

 

Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.

 

I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.

 

There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.

 

I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.

There are some awesom caches in that area of Colorado. I can send you some ideas later today if you want.

 

I'd love any ideas or insight you can provide.

 

You can email at sjelias at gmail.

Edited May 26, 2014 by selias

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

 

There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.

 

I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.

From previous logs.... you might want to look in/around the landscaping supplies.

[+Team Laxson]

Try this -- "pre"find some caches... THEN take the kids out to find them (not telling them you already did).

 

Yes, avoid going after micros if you can. For one thing, they don't 'thrill' the kids.

 

I've never been there, but can guess with 99.999% accuracy of just where the Wally World cache would be. Not thrilling, either.

 

There is a reservoir/retention pond adjacent to Wally World, but you have to park, then walk across the lot, then hunt around in these big rocks along the shore. So not in Wally World, but pretty darn close.

 

I think the pre-finding is the way to go... I'm hoping this will be a fun summer family activity, I just need a successful find or two to stoke the fire.

There are some awesom caches in that area of Colorado. I can send you some ideas later today if you want.

 

I'd love any ideas or insight you can provide.

 

You can email at sjelias at gmail.

 

Sara's Duck Pond would be a good one in town to start with - Regular size

 

(Formerly) The Polaroid Project is another nice sized container.

Big D's Cache is at the Environmental Learning Center. Nice short walk for the kids. The grass might be a bit tall near the cache, but it's not that far off the trail.

 

I know there are a bunch of other caches - but those should get you started. Enjoy!

[selias]

Sara's Duck Pond would be a good one in town to start with - Regular size

 

(Formerly) The Polaroid Project is another nice sized container.

Big D's Cache is at the Environmental Learning Center. Nice short walk for the kids. The grass might be a bit tall near the cache, but it's not that far off the trail.

 

I know there are a bunch of other caches - but those should get you started. Enjoy!

 

These are great, thanks! I'm picking up the kids from school today and they asked this morning if we could try another cache on the way home. Sounds like they're into it despite our sad initial outing.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Sara's Duck Pond would be a good one in town to start with - Regular size

 

(Formerly) The Polaroid Project is another nice sized container.

Big D's Cache is at the Environmental Learning Center. Nice short walk for the kids. The grass might be a bit tall near the cache, but it's not that far off the trail.

 

I know there are a bunch of other caches - but those should get you started. Enjoy!

 

These are great, thanks! I'm picking up the kids from school today and they asked this morning if we could try another cache on the way home. Sounds like they're into it despite our sad initial outing.

 

Sometimes, with kids, bribary helps...

 

"If we find it, ice-cream to celebrate!"

Or if you have a really good look, but can't find it "Lets have an ice-cream to commiserate!"

 

 

Or other treat of choice.

[selias]

So here's a funny twist... I picked them up after school and we were all psyched to tackle the Duck Pond cache mentioned above. We roll into the parking lot, I grab a pen, and the three of us get out of the car. No sooner had we taken 10 steps from my car do we hear a clap of thunder -- Out of nowhere! The sky was blue 10 minutes earlier! -- that sends us all running back to the car.

 

We had a good laugh that maybe someone is trying to tell us we shouldn't be caching.

 

[+Ben0w]

No, that is the new soundsystem, Groundspeak introduced in 2009. Didn't you renew your platin membership?

 

 

 

[+Ambrosia]

*platinum.

[+popokiiti]

You already know this, but kids have a shorter attention span than us adults, so the pre-finding idea is good. The reward for trying, ice cream, I love! Some parents have a chart on the fridge - who found how many, but I prefer Team Kids against Team Parents, where you can hold your tongue when you spy the cache first, so they can beat you by at least one or two finds. We didn't find a cammoed film canister on one trip, and ran into another cacher with 5 year old daughter on the way out. 3 adults looking, the 5 year old found it lickety split. Those young eyes are great and I bet it won't be long before you don't have to pre-find!

[+humboldt flier]

Hmmmmmmmmm,

 

Will be doing a 7 state run in July and passing through Ft. Collins. If you have ice cream I will drop by to help with the search.

 

Took my 4.5yr. old grand-daughter out and had a couple of spare trinkets to bogart into the cache in the event the swag was junk.

 

She loved "finding" the dollar bill.

 

Have fun

[+briansnat]

Word of advice, filter out micros and you will avoid a lot of that WalMart and guardrail nonsense.